The Fine Things In Life
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: AU. Stephanie encounters Kaiba while at the Smash Club.


**Hey there! Here's a new Yu-Gi-Oh/Full House crossover oneshot I cooked up one day. I was reading the Yu-Gi-Oh songfic oneshot called **Hold Me Now**, and I liked the part where Anzu has to pay fifteen dollars for a bottle of water while she's at a dance/hotel/bar for a short vacation, but she's... well, let's just say ‛short on cash', to be precise. Luckily for her, Kaiba helps her out. That really got my creative fires going at a good pace, and I then fleshed out a Full House/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover oneshot based on Hold Me Now where Stephanie Tanner is kind of in the same situation (only different), and Kaiba helps her out in kind of the same way as well. **

**So this is what I cooked up. Hope you like it. :) **

**Disclaimer: Genius Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh. Jeff Franklin (also a genius) owns Full House. The lyrics to Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter at the beginning of this crossover oneshot belong to their respective owners. I own the fanfics I cook up from time to time.**

* * *

The Fine Things In Life

_He was working through college  
On my grandpa's farm  
I was thirsting for knowledge  
And he had a car  
Yeah, I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child  
One restless summer we found love growing wild  
On the banks of the river on a well-beaten path  
It's funny how those memories, they last_

_Like strawberry wine and seventeen_  
_The hot July moon saw everything_  
_My first taste of love, oh bittersweet_  
_The green on the vine_  
_Like strawberry wine_  
-Deana Carter, **Strawberry Wine**

It was Friday night. Stephanie Tanner, fourteen, was at the Smash Club, which was owned by her uncle Jesse Katsopolis-Tanner, in San Francisco, California. Liking the sound of the music playing, she was moving her body on the dance floor in many different rhythms as she had done so many times before – and without missing a single beat too.

_If there's one thing I sure love to do, it's dance, _she thought as she moved herself to the music.

Finally when the song ended, Stephanie felt as though she had gotten a lot of exercise (which she had in a way). However, all that dancing she had done had also made her quite thirsty.

So with that, she headed over to the juice bar. The bartender, a guy named Frankie with brown eyes and matching locks, smiled as he saw her coming. He knew Stephanie well – as not only was she a frequent customer, but he had also memorized what she liked and didn't like in terms of food and drink too. So in Frankie's mind, Stephanie wasn't a tough one to figure out.

Stephanie herself then smiled as she approached the bar.

"A Coca-Cola, please," she said politely.

"Certainly, Stephanie," replied Frankie as he turned and pulled out an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola from the refrigerator. "You know, I got to tell you – those were quite the moves you did. Very impressive, too," he remarked as he set the bottle of Coke on the bar in front of her.

"Thanks. You know, you're right; I guess I do have the moves after all," Stephanie replied. She was then told that the Coca-Cola cost 79 cents. So she put her vintage pink leather Etra handbag (which had a matching shoulder strap) on the bar, opened it up and pulled out one of the one-dollar bills in there and placed it face-up two feet away from her purse on the surface of the bar, hoping that Frankie would see it and pick it up.

However, that wasn't what happened. Instead, an all-too-familiar hand attached to an arm covered by a very familiar purple trenchcoat reached over, picked up the one-dollar bill and put it back in her purse. When Stephanie looked back down at her purse, she was surprised to see the one-dollar bill – the same one she had just put on the bar – going back into her purse as if by magic.

When she turned to see the owner of the hand that had just put the dollar back in her purse, her azure orbs widened in surprise as recognition of who it was dawned on her.

"Frankie, that's on me."

Even the owner's voice was quite something, as well as very intriguing. Like he knew something about a person and spoke it out loud sometimes, which was usually when the person he was talking to either didn't know it themselves or were too caught off-guard to care.

Apparently Frankie thought so, because he then smiled and, knowing who he was speaking to, said, "Sure thing, Kaiba."

Seto Kaiba then turned to a now shocked Stephanie. He smiled and said, "Seto Kaiba. I come here quite often."

Stephanie blinked. "Wow. I had no idea you were so... so..."

Kaiba noticed that she happened to be at a loss for words when she was trying to describe him, so he helped her out. "Famous? Yeah, I kind of know about that myself."

When Stephanie finally understood, she nodded her head, indicating that she had gotten the meaning of what Kaiba meant. "I see," she said.

The two then walked over to a table located on one side of the dance floor and sat down at it. Kaiba smiled. "You see, Stephanie, I've watched many people here as they move their bodies – their whole selves – to the music and get lost in it for a variety of reasons. Some like to dance because they can become the music itself – whether it's the harp, the tambourine or the drums. For others, dancing means that they don't have to think about anything and everything in life.

"But tell me something, Stephanie. What does dancing mean to you?" he added after pausing for a moment.

Stephanie paused for a moment, while she drank most of her soda. She then thought for a few seconds while her mind processed Kaiba's words and then the question he had put to her. Apparently, Kaiba's words had caught her off-guard for a little bit.

Finally, she replied, "I think it's because of how the music plays. How the dancers move themselves to the rhythm and the beat of the notes. How the beats themselves usually tell a story that's there between the music itself."

Kaiba listened as Stephanie answered his query with such radiance, as well as such knowledge too. He had to admit, there was something about Stephanie that really made him wonder, as well as muse. And not just about life in general, either.

No. Instead, now he was musing about none other than... Stephanie Judith Tanner herself.

And he had to admit something else about her there as well.

"You are really quite bright, despite what your sister DJ's friend Kimmy Gibbler says about you," he suddenly said.

Puzzled at first, Stephanie blinked, and then grinned as she nodded as the realization of what Kaiba meant came to her. She definitely was smart; after all, beginning to read at the age of four, and then working with her vocabulary so that it got bigger went up from there quite nicely, and was also quite an accomplishment – at least in Stephanie's eyes, anyway. And if she could make it in the world with that, then she could do anything she set her mind on doing. Stephanie knew that for sure.

Then, doing her best to look on the bright side like she usually did, she said, "I'm glad you see me that way, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba couldn't help but let a real smile make its appearance on his face – instead of the usual smirk that happened to be one of his trademarks.

"Please," he said, his tone of voice sounding all smooth and cool, "call me Seto. Whenever someone calls me Mr. Kaiba, I always think they're talking about me, but can't find the courage to call me by my first name. And by the way, Stephanie, you're more than welcome to call me Seto if you want."

Stephanie's eyes widened. "Really?" she queried.

Kaiba nodded. "Absolutely, Stephanie. Absolutely."

"Thank you, Seto," Stephanie said, grinning.

Kaiba then smiled. "You are welcome, Stephanie."

While they were talking, the sky had changed. No longer bright and sunny, like it was before when Stephanie had come into the Smash Club that afternoon, it was now evening, and the moon was out, lighting up everything on the path. Noticing this, Kaiba then turned to Stephanie, who had just gotten back from using the restroom for a moment, and said, "It's now dark out, and evening has fallen already. How about I walk you home?"

For what seemed to be the second time that afternoon-turned-night, Stephanie paused and thought for a moment. Her mind was telling her that this probably seemed like a good idea. _After all, _she thought, _it probably won't be so bad. He'll just take me home and that'll be it – hopefully. _

Luckily for Stephanie, she then turned to Kaiba and having made up her mind, said, "Sure thing, Seto. I think that sounds like a good idea right there."

He smiled, and then offered her his arm like a gentleman would with a lady back in the olden days, which Stephanie had read about with fascination sometimes, and she took it.

With that, they left the Smash Club.

Finally, when they reached the Tanner home, Stephanie turned to Kaiba and said, "Thanks for walking me home. If I had to walk home by myself, it would've been not so good at all."

Kaiba's nod was one of understanding. "I know what you mean. If I had to do the same thing – well, for me it would've been kind of boring without someone to talk to."

Stephanie blinked. "Really?" She mused for a second. "Wow."

Kaiba nodded again, this time in agreement. "Indeed."

He walked up to her, only stopping when he was two feet away. Stephanie waited for anything he might do, friendly or not.

It was at that moment that Kaiba reached for her hand and took it in his. Raising it to his lips, he smirked at the look of confusion that crossed that so beautiful face of hers as he then pressed his mouth to the back of her hand.

_Beautiful, _Kaiba thought. _Beautiful, innocent, pure and full of love – that is how I shall always see her. Handsome, charming, usually looking as though ready to allure even those who think they know better than to follow someone like myself who will only bring heartbreak and manipulation into their lives, not realizing that that is usually what they do in the end – that is how she will see me..._

When he let go of her hand, and with the words "Goodbye, Mr. Kaiba" leaving her lips, Stephanie turned and headed up the steps and into her house. Kaiba watched her go, noting how her blond curly locks seemed to flow like water in the wind.

When he was finally underneath her bedroom window, he lingered long enough to blow her a swift kiss, and then smiled as he turned and headed into the shadows...

* * *

**Well, I hope you liked reading this story as much as I did writing it. After all, in my mind, crossover stories really are fun to cook up and then write down ****– **especially the Yu-Gi-Oh ones, of course. 

**Anyway, feedback – especially the nice kind – is very much appreciated. :) **

**~Nightcrawlerlover**


End file.
